Extension handle for paint rollers



1958 w. .1. SCHEMERS 2,845,647

EXTENSION HANDLE FOR PAINT ROLLERS Filed Feb. 8. 1954 [I] f'h w mm INVENTOR.

states 2,845,647 7 EXTENSION HANDLE FOR PAINT ROLLERS William J. Schemers, Detroit, Mich. Application February 3, 1954, Serial No. 408,794

2 Claims. (Cl. 15-145) This invention relates to painting devices, and in particular, to paint rollers for applying paint to walls, ceilings and other flat surfaces.

One object of this invention is to provide an extension handle for a paint roller whereby the paint roller may be to prolong the reach of the user, so that the .user may stand on the floor of a room and quickly and easily paint the celling without the use of a ladder, scafiold, table or other raised surface and without the fatigue and discomfort resulting from using such a raised support.

Another object is to provide a paint roller extension handle of the foregoing character whereby the rolleritself may be coated with paint by swinging the roller-attached extension handle downward into a paint pan on the floor and then upward into contact with the ceiling without the necessity of removing the paint roller from the extension handle in order to replenish the supply of paint on the roller.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description of the accompanying drawings, wherein".

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a paint roller extension handle, according to one form of the invention, with a standard paint roller attached thereto, with the roller covering in cross-section and with the middle portion of the extension handle omitted for compactness of showing;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the paint roller and extension handle shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-section taken along the line 3-=--'3 in Figure 1, showing the roller handle shaft clamp; and Figure 4 is a cross-section taken along the line 4 4 in Figure 1, showing the roller handle clamp.

Within recent years, paint rollers have come into wide spread use to replace paint brushes in painting flatsurfaces such as walls and ceilings of building structures. While the paint roller simplified the task of applying paint to such a surface, especially in the hands of an amateur painter, it nevertheless still required the use of a ladder, scaffold, table or other raised surface upon which the user could stand when he was painting an out-of-reachsurfaee such as the ceiling of a room. As a result, the paint roller, although simplifying the application of paint, especially for inexperienced persons, nevertheless was still used with considerable discomfort and fatigue resulting from the users having to stand upon such an elevated support in order to reach the ceiling or other out-of-reach surface. Thus, even though there has been an enormous recent increase in the sale of paint rollers and paint to householders and other persons doing their own painting, in order to save the expense of having it done by a professional painter, almost the same amount of inconvenience results from the use of a paint roller in painting a ceiling as in the previous use of a paint brush for the same purpose.

The present invention eliminates this fatigue and discomfort by eliminating the necessity for using a ladder, scaffold, table or other elevated support in painting a ceiling or other out-of-reach surface. In so doing, the invention provides an extension handle which is quickly and easily atatent tached to and detached from the handle of a standard paint roller. :B the use of this extension handle, the user stands in a comfortable position on the floor and swings the paint roller back and forth across the ceiling, thereby painting it quickly and easily without fatigue or discomfort. Moreover, in order to replenish the paint on the paint roller, he merely places paint in a pan on the libelswings the paint roller down into the pan bymeans of the extension handle to recharge the roller with paint. When this is done, he swings it upward again into contact with the ceiling and resumes the painting-operation without delay or interruption. At the same time, the roller can be quickly and easily removed from the extension handle merely by loosening a pair of clamps, and used for painting accessible surfaces while held in the hands of the user in the ordinary way.

Referring to the drawings, in detail, Figures 1 and 2 show an extension handle, generally designated 10, according to one form of-the present invention, as adapted for receiving and holding a standardpaint roller, generally designated 12, for the purposes and advantages mentioned above. The paint roller 12 is of a conventional type available in similar forms upon the open market, and its details are beyond thescope of the present invention. As shown for purposes of exemplification, the paint roller '12 consists of a handle rod structure 13 including a bent handle rod, generally designated 14, which is roughly fin the form of a question mark and which carries a roller unit, generally designated 17'. The roller unit 17 consists of a cylindrical support 18 which on its exterior carries a cover, consisting of a cylindrical sleeve 20 of fabric or other suitable material having a layer of closely packed fibers 22 attached thereto. The cylinder 18 is provided witha central bore 24 extending axially from end to end thereof and mounted in this bore is the axle portion 26 of the handle rod 14. Retaining collars 28 and 30 at opposite ends of the axle portion 26 hold the roller unit 1'7 upon the axle portion for simplicity as being of solid "construction but the invention comprehends the use of a hollow roller having a paint reservoir therein if so desired, because such hollow reservoir paint rollers are also available on the open market.

The handle rod 14 also includes a side portion 32 which is substantially perpendicular to the axle portion 26 a front portion 34 substantially perpendicular to the side portion 32 and therefore substantially parallel to the axis 26, and an end portion 36 which is substantially perpendicular to the front portion 34 and axle portion 26 and therefore substantially parallel to the side portion 32 (Figure l). The handle rod 14 is preferably in the form of a bent rod of metal or other suitable material and preferably of circular cross-section. The handle rod structure 13 also includes a handle 40 of wood, plastic, or other suitable material containing a socket 41 in which the handle rod end portion 36 is secured.

The extension handle 10 is of a sufiicient length to enable the user of ordinary height to reach the ceiling of an ordinary room with a standard paint roller 10 mounted on the upper end thereof. The handle 10 consists of a solid or tubular shaft 42 which may be of solid material, such as wood, but is preferably of metal tubing, in order to give strength combined with lightness of weight. The upper end 44 of the shaft 42, if solid, is provided with a transversely-directed notch 46 or, if tubular, with a pair of diametrically-spaced notches 46 (Figure 1) in the epposite portion of the side wall 48 of the shaft 4-2.

Mounted near the upper end 44 of the shaft 42 are two roller clamps generally designated 50 and 52 respectively, theupper clamp 50 being spaced slightly below the end 44 and the lower clamp 52 spaced below the upper clamp 50; The upper clamp 50 (Figures 1 and 3) directly engages the end portion 36 of the paint roller handle rod 14 where- 3 as the lower clamp 52 engages the paint roller handle 40. The upper clamp 50 consists of an approximately C-shaped member 54 of metal or other suitable material having a central portion 56, a shallow arcuate end portion 58, and an approximately semi-cylindrical opposite end portion 60 drilled and threaded as at 62 to receive a wing bolt or screw 64. The extension handle shaft 42 is drilled and threaded as at 66 to receive a screw 68 by which a block 70 is secured to the extension handle shaft 42. The block block 70 on its inner surface adjacent the extension handle shaft 42 is provided with a partially cylindrical concave recess 72 mating with and snugly fitting the external surface of the shaft 42. The outer surface 74- of the block 70 is of shallow convex cylindrical configuration approximating the curvature of the shallow arcuate portion 58 of the C-shaped member 54, and is provided centrally with a groove 76 adapted to receive the end portion 36 of the paint roller handle rod 14. The groove 76 in the block 70 extends parallel to the axis of the recess 72, so that the handle rod portion 36 is held in a position substantially parallel to the axis of the extension handle shaft 42.

The lower clamp 52 consists of an approximately C- shaped member 78 having sharply curved spaced opposite end portions 80 and 82 respectively (Figures 1 and 4). The end portions 80 and 82 are of approximately semicylindrical shape, the portion 80 being configured to fit the curvature of the extension handle shaft 4-2 whereas the portion 82 is configured approximately to fit the curvature of the roller handle 40. The cylindrical end portion 82 is drilled and threaded as at 34 to receive a wing bolt or wing screw 86 by which the roller handle 40 is forced into clamping engagement with the extension handle shaft 42.

In the use of the invention, let it be assumed that the user has been painting the side walls or accessible surfaces of a room by holding the paint roller 10 directly in one hand by means of the handle 49 and that he now desires to paint the ceiling or other inaccessible surface by the use of the same paint roller without having to resort to the use of a ladder, scaffold, table or other elevated sur-- face on which to stand. To attach the paint roller 12 to the extension handle 10, the user grasps the paint roller handle 40 in one hand, such as his left hand, and place it alongside the upper end portion of the extension handle shaft 42, with the front portion 34 of the paint roller handle rod 14 seated in the notch or notches 46 in the end of the extension roller handle shaft 42 and with the end portion 36 resting in the groove '76 of the block 70. While holding the paint roller handle 40 against the handle shaft 4-2 by one hand in this manner, he slides one of the clamps S or 52 along the extension handle shaft 42 into close proximity to the handle rod portion 36 of the paint roller 12. Assuming that the painter first uses the lower clamp 52 for this purpose, he loosens the wing screw 86 in its thread oore 84, slides the member 78 over the paint then tightens the wing screw 64 to pull the clamping mcmber portion 58 tightly against the handle rod end portion 36 and block 70, thereby clamping the handle rod 14 of the paint roller 12 firmly to the upper end of the extension handle shaft 42.

With the paint roller 12 thus firmly mounted on the outer end of the extension handle in the manner described above, the user grasps the extension handle shaft 42 near its opposite or lower end, swings the paint roller unit 17 downward into a supply of paint which has been placed in a pan on the floor or in any other The user then applies the other clamp 50- convenient location, and coats the fibers 22 of the roller unit cover 19 with paint. He then swings the paint roller 12 upward by swinging the extension handle shaft 42 upward until the roller unit 17 rests against the ceiling, at which time he swing the extension handle 10 and roller 12 to and fro along the surface of the ceiling to paint the ceiling, replenishing the supply of paint on the paint roller 12, when needed, by swinging the roller 12 downward into the paint pan.

When the user has completed the painting of the ceiling or other out-of-reach surface, he detaches the paint roller 12 from the extension handle 10 by loosening the clamping screws 64 and 86 and by then swinging the upper and lower clamping members 54 and 78 aside in order tctremove the paint roller 12. He may then clean the paint roller 12 and store it away or may use it further by grasping it directly in the hand by means of the handle 40, if he so desires.

It will be obvious that either of the clamps 50 and 52 may be first tightened upon the appropriate portion of the paint roller 12, after which the other clamp is tightened, or both may be tightened simultaneously when the clamps 50 and 52 have been slid into their proper positions. It will also be evident from Figurgs l and 2 that the locking of the paint roller handle rod structure 13 at locations both parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the extension handle shaft 42, as by the engagement of the handle rod portion 34 with the notch or notches 46 in the end 44 of the extension handle shaft 10 together with the gripping of the handle rod and handle portions 36 and respectively by the clamps and 52 respectively not only prevents twisting, bending or turning of the paint roller 12 on its rod 14 relatively to the extension handle shaft 42, but also enables the use of a much smaller gripping pressure by the clamps 50 and 52 than would be necessary if the clamping were effected by the clamps 50 and 52 alone.

What I claim is:

1. An extension handle for a paint roller having a handle rod structure including a handle mounted on a handle rod with portions of said rod respectively parallel and perpendicular to the paint roller axis, said extension handle comprising an elongated shaft having means at one end thereof for receiving and holding said parallel portion of said handle rod structure against twisting relatively to said shaft, and a clamping device on said shaft disposed near but spaced away from said one end, said clamping device having a clamping portion thereon disposed on one side of said shaft in clamping engagement with said perpendicular portion of said handle rod structure and holding the same alongside said shaft in parallel relationship to said shaft.

2. An extension handle for a paint roller having a handle rod structure including a handle mounted on a handle rod with portions of said rod respectively parallel and perpendicular to the paint roller axis, said extension handle comprising an elongated shaft having a recess at one end thereof configured to fit said parallel portion of said handle rod structure and disposed transversely to said shaft for receiving and holding said parallel portion of said handle rod structure, and a clamping device on said shaft spaced away from said one end, said clamping device having a clamping portion thereon disposed on one side of said shaft in clamping engagement with said perpendicular portion of said handle rod structure and holding the same alongside said shaft in parallel relationship to said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 843,590 Dunn et al. Feb. 12, 1907 878,444 Young Feb. 4, 1908 13 Adams Jan. 30, 1945 i FOREIGN PATENTS 277,093 Switzerland November 1951 

